Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1887-02-04

decided my fate for time and for eternity.
Another captive of this great Christian de-
fusion! There goes Saul of Tarsus on horse
back at full gallop. Where is he goinga To
destroy Christians. He wants no better play
spell than to stand and watch the hats and
coats of the murderers who are massacring
Gods children. There goes the same man.
This time he is afoot Where is he going
nowa Going on the road to Ostia to die for
Christ. They tried to whip it out of him,
they tried to scare it out of him, they
thought they would give him enough of it by
putting him into windowless dungeon, and
keeping him on small diet, and denying him
cloak, and condemning him as a criminal,
and bowling at him through the street; but
they could not freeze it out of him, and they
could not sweat it out of him, and they could
not pound it out of him, so they tried the
surgery of the sword, and one summer day in
sc he was decapitated Perhaps the mightiest
intellect of the 5000 years of the worlds ex-
istence hoodwinked, cheated, cajoled, duped
by the Christian religion. All! that is the
remarkable thing about this delusion of
n .::t.,ssSsy, It ove,.nnwnrs the strongest
intellectaA Gather the critics, secular and
religious, of this century together and put
a vote to them as to which is the great
est book ever written, and by large
majority they will say paradise Lost" Who
wrote paradise Lost2' One of the fools who
believed in this Bible, John Milton Benja-
min Franklin surrendered to this delusion, if
you may Judge from the letter that he wrote
to Thomas Paine, begging him to destroy
the cage of Reason" in manuscript and never
let it go into type, and writing afterward, in
his old days: "Of this Jesus of Nazareth I
have to say that the system of morals He
left and the religion be has given us are the
best things the world has ever seen or is
likely to see." Patrick Henry, the electric
champion of liberty, enslaved by this delu
sion, so that he says: "The book worth all
other books put together is the Bible" Ben
janin Rush, the leading Psychologist and an
atomist of his day, the great medical scientist
what did he saya "The only true and per-
feet religion is Christianity" Isaac Newton,
the leading philosopher of his time-what did
he says That man surrendering to
this delusion of the Christian re-
igion, crying out: "The sublimest
philosophy on earth is the phil
osophy of the Gospel" David Brewster, at
the pronunciation of whose name every
scientist the world over bows his head,
David Brewster saying: 30, this religion
has been great light to me, a very
great light all my days" President Theirs,
the great French statesman, acknowl-
edging that he prayed when he said: 81
invoke the Lord God in whom am glad to
believe" David Livingstone, able to conquer
the lion, able to CONQUER the panther, able to
conquer the savage, yet conquered by this
delusion, this hallucination, this great swindle
of the ages, SO when they find him dead they
find him on his knees. William E. Gladstone,
the strongest intellect in England to-day,
unable to resist this chimera, this fallacy,
this delusion of the Christian religion, goes to
the house of God every Sabbath, and often,
at the invitation of the rector, reads the
prayers to the people. o, if those mighty in
telleets are overborne by this delusion, what
chance is there for you and for me?
Beside that, I have noticed that first rate
infidels cannot be depended on for steadfast
ness in the proclamation of their sentiments.
Goethe, a leading skeptic, was SO wrought
upon by this Christianity that in a weak mo
ment he cried out: "My belief in the Billie
has saved me in my literary and moral life
Rousseau, one of the most eloquent cham
| pions of infdelity, spending his whole life
warning against Christianity, cries out: "The
majesty of the Scriptures amazes me-" Alta
mont, the notorious in1idel. one would think
! he would have been safe against this delusion
! talking against Christianity all his days, in
his last hours he cried out: ooh, Thou bias
phemed but most indulgent Lord God, hell
| itself is refuge, if it hide me from Thy
frown" Voltaire, the most talented
| infidel the world ever saw, writing $50
publications, and the most of them spite
| full against Christianity, himself the
most notorious libertine of the century,
one would have thought he could have beer
depended upon for steadfastness in the advo
| cacy of infdelity and in the war against thi
| terrible chimera, this delusion of the Gospel.
| But no; in his last hour he asks for Christian
! burial, and asks that they give him the sacra-
| ment of the Lord Jesus Christ. Why,syou
cannot depend upon these first rate infidels-
| you cannot depend upon their power to resist
this great delusion of Christianity Thomas
| Paine, the god of modern skeptics, his birth
| day celebrated in New York and Boston with
| great enthusiasm-Thomas Paine, the para
| gon of Bible haters; Thomas Paine, about
| whom his brother infidel William Carver
| wrote in a letter which I have at my house.
| saying that he drank a quart of rum day
! and was too mean and too dishonest to pay
| for it; Thomas Paine, the adored of modern in
| fidelity; Thomas Paine, who stole another
mans wife in England and brought her to
ILLS luOllctS dlIlo, WIZ WAS So SQudllQ
and so loathsome and so drunken and so
! profligate and SO beastly in his habits, some
| times picked out of the ditch, sometimes to
filthy to be picked out; Thomas Paine-one
| would have thought that he could have been
| depended on for steadfastness against this
| great delusion. But no. In his dying hour
| he begs the Lord Jesus Christ for mercy
| Powerful delusion, all conquering delusion,
earthquaking delusion of the Christian re-
| ligion. Yea, it goes on, it is so impertinent,
| and it is SO overbearing, this chimera of the
| gospel, that having conquered the great pict-
| ure galleries of the world the old masters
| and the young masters, as 1 showed in a
| former Sermon it is not satisfied until it has
| conquered the music of the world. Look over
| the programme of that ma ynifcent musical
! festival a few years ago in New York and see
| what were the great performances, and learn
that the greatest of all the subjects were relig-
| ious subjects. What was it one night when
| three thousand voices were accompanied with
| vast number of instruments? "Israei in
| Egypt" Yes, Beethoven deluded until he wrote
the high mass in major. Haydn deluded with
| this religion until he wrote the Creation
| Handel deluded until he wrote the oratorios
of "Jephthah" and esther" and "Saul" and
| Israel in Egypt" and the Messiah" On the
closing night 5000 deluded people singing 6.
delusion to eight thousand deluded hearers.
| Yes, this chimera of the gospel is not salts.
| fed until it goes on and builds itself into the
most permanent architecture, so it seems as
if the world is never going to get rid of it.
What are some of TIE finest buildings in the
| worlda ST. Pauls, st. Peters, the churches
and cathedrais of all Christendom Yes, this
lmpertirence Of the gospel, this vast delusion
is not satisfied until it projects itself, and in
one year gives, contributes, S6,25000l
j to foreign missions, the work of which
is to make Ounces and fools on the
other side of the world-people we have
never seen. Deluded doctors-22O physicians
meeting week by week in London in the
Union Medical Prayer circle, to worship God.
Deluded lawyers-the late Lord Cairns, the,
highest legal authority in England, the
adviser of the throne, spending his val
in preaching the gospel of Jesus Chg
! poor people of Scotland Fredez
linghuysen, once the secretarx
ITpitod Statac on old focLI